


Happy Birthday, Tony

by fictionaldowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 16:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19016374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionaldowney/pseuds/fictionaldowney
Summary: The most amazing birthday gift for Tony Stark.





	Happy Birthday, Tony

“…and I love Daddy three thousand. Always.” Morgan finished her nightly ritual before Pepper leaned down to kiss her daughter’s forehead.

“And Mommy?” Pepper asked, her tone sweet.

Morgan smiled. “That’s a secret.”

Pepper feigned surprise. “Oh, I see.”

“But it’s a lot,” Morgan added in a whisper.

Pepper smiled and smoothed out the covers before caressing Morgan’s cheek. “Good night, Baby.”

The little girl yawned, exhausted. “Night, Mommy.”

Pepper left her daughter’s room and went straight to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. She hadn’t had a decent night's sleep since…well, since Tony stopped sleeping beside her. She mindlessly shuffled through paperwork on the kitchen table, then swore when she knocked her cup over, tea seeping into her agenda notes for the next morning’s teleconference. 

“Shit.” She hurried to try and clean her spill, but froze when she lifted one of the papers only to find another with Tony’s bright blue signature at the bottom of it. “Shit,” she repeated, her voice changing. “Shit, shit, shit…” Her voice broke completely as she wept for the first time in weeks. She was grateful Morgan was asleep.

She barely paid attention during the next morning’s meeting and was so thankful she remembered to shut off the video feed; her eyes were red and her hair was in knots. She slept on the couch the night before - the thought of her bed far too lonely.

She wasn’t able to snap out of her zombie-like state until Happy appeared in her doorway, concern in his kind eyes. “Hey, Pepper.”

“Uh, Happy, hi…I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” She tried to smile.

He slowly walked toward her, signing for her to stay seated on the couch. “Well, I left Morgan with Uncle Rhodey for a little while.”

“Is everything all right?”

Happy shook his head. “I was told, and I quote, ‘Mommy had the shits last night and she’s sad today.’”

Pepper’s eyes went wide. “What?” She put her head in her hands. “Of course she got out of bed…”

“Pep…”

“I spilled my tea and then…Happy, it was just his signature and…”

Happy sat next to her and rubbed her back for a moment. “It’s okay.”

Pepper frowned. “It’s not. Happy, if things don’t work and he’s really…”

“Hey, huh uh. We agreed that we have to live like things aren’t going to work. Doctor Cho made it very clear that there are absolutely no guarantees and as far as everyone else is concerned he’s sharing his parents’ crypt.”

“I lied to him, Happy…I told him he could rest and…”

Happy smiled. “And if he knew there was even a chance he didn’t have to leave you and that little girl and we didn’t take it…”

“I know,” she sighed. Her tears fell - Happy was one of the select few who was allowed behind her wall of feigned confidence. “Is Morgan all right?”

“She insisted on a cheeseburger again today,” he began. “Maybe I made a mistake saying what I did about those…but she runs around enough, so no worries about her taking after me.” He laughed, but Pepper was silent. Being as gentle as he could, he took her hand and felt his heart drop as the diamond he’d carried for so long caught the light. “Morgan is okay, Pepper. She’s more worried about you than anything. She’s…well, she’s part Tony, so fooling her isn’t easy. She knows you’re having a tough time and that you’re ‘pretending’ that you’re okay.”

“She said that?” The words caught in Pepper’s throat. Happy nodded. “I’m failing…”

“You’ve never failed at a thing,” Happy corrected. “Who the hell has ever had to go through something like this? Nobody. Ever. You are doing all you can and you’re allowed to be sad, Pep, even in front of Morgan.”

Pepper’s next words shook, all of her confidence a distant memory. “I’m afraid I’ll let something slip. She can’t know there’s any possibility, Happy. We’ve been over this a thousand times.” She got up from her place on the couch, her sadness replaced with anger. “We weren’t allowed to be! She deserves him! I deserve him!” She picked up a glass from the coffee table and threw it, but Happy didn’t flinch as it shattered. He’d been waiting for this moment for weeks. “And now, this chance is just dangling in front of me - in front of us - and it’s worse than watching him…his…light…leave him… Was it a mistake? Are we toying with fate? Are we…” She broke down in sobs and fell to her knees. She felt Happy’s arms around her within seconds. “I’m sorry,” she cried.

“I have the same thoughts every minute of every day. He saved the universe, we had to try and save him…and if we lose him all over again, then we can throw glasses together.” He kissed the top of Pepper’s head and he felt her relax in his embrace.

Nine more days passed and Pepper was more honest with her little girl. She let a few tears fall every now and then and she told Morgan stories that made her daughter smile, but her own heart broke over and over again. This night’s particular bedtime story involved the evening where Pepper found Tony “stuck” in his gantry. While Morgan howled with laughter, Pepper cried…and Morgan understood. 

“Mommy, we can have a sleepover,” Morgan offered.

Through watery eyes, Pepper smiled. “I would love that, Baby.” Pepper settled herself under the covers of Morgan’s bed and reveled in a strange sort of peace as her daughter cuddled against her. Both drifted asleep in moments.

Morgan felt strange as her eyes shot open. She squinted in the dark, looking for something unknown, but finding nothing. “Oh,” she whispered and she carefully crawled out of bed, making sure she didn’t disturb her mother. She smiled as she tip-toed down the stairs and giggled while she carefully pulled a chair in front of the refrigerator. After she reached the freezer and pulled out a juice pop, she went into her father’s study - now partially Pepper’s office - and looked at the calendar on the wall. “It’s tomorrow now,” she whispered. “FRIDAY, is it time?”

Pepper heard a distinct noise in her dream…a persistent tone that would stop for a moment, only to start again. For the first time, she was dreaming of Tony, of holding him again and feeling his lips against hers…but that sound pulled him away from her. Silent screams filled her lungs…then she woke. It took her a moment to realize where she was, then she understood the noise - her cell phone was down the hall on her nightstand. She shifted, thinking she may wake Morgan, but her daughter wasn’t there. The clock on the nightstand read three A.M. and suddenly, she panicked. Morgan not in bed, her phone ringing… She ran down the hall and grabbed her phone without looking at the screen. “Morgan?” she panicked.

“I’m here, Mommy,” Morgan said from the doorway, her face stained with purple juice pop.

“Pepper, it’s Helen,” came a voice from the tiny speaker. “I know how late it is…”

Pepper’s heart sank immediately and she sat on the edge of the bed. “…no…” Her eyes watered. 

“Pepper, his brain activity spiked. His other vitals have been strong for days, but you told me not to call unless…”

“Daddy’s waking up for his birthday,” Morgan proclaimed, her smile wide. “It’s his birthday, Mommy, remember?”

Pepper’s mouth hung open and her voice was gone - she didn’t register her daughter’s words at all. She couldn’t speak and struggled to breathe. When the moment passed, she only managed one word. “Tony?”

Helen understood that the woman on the other end was not prepared for this conversation. “Pepper, I know the hour, but I suggest…” 

Snapping out of her haze, Pepper interrupted. “We’ll be right there.” She looked to her daughter. “Morgan, honey?”

“I knew he’d wake up,” Morgan said, sounding almost ashamed. “I didn’t think…”

“It’s okay, Baby. We have to go, okay?”

“Uh huh.”

Frantically calling Happy and Rhodey on the way, Pepper drove to a very unassuming building only a few miles from the lake. She carried Morgan on her hip as she swiped a security badge and a large, steel door opened. She felt Morgan shudder just a little as cool air brushed their faces. 

“It’s okay,” Pepper said in a rushed whisper. 

“I know,” Morgan smiled. 

White sterile walls with a few high security keypads were passed in a blur as Pepper made her way to the room she’d stepped into weeks ago. As she approached the door, she registered hurried footsteps behind her. She didn’t need to turn her head to know who it was.

“Pep!” Rhodey called.

“Can’t…believe…you beat me,” Happy panted further down the hallway.

A guard took a blood sample from the three of them - a small machine scanning and verifying it - before letting them in; this was a security measure Pepper insisted on when she arranged all of this. They stepped through the threshold into another room, this one much more “homey” than the last. Plush couches and pictures of “family” filled this room…the room meant for one of only two kinds of news. The only door between their makeshift family and the man behind it was the most daunting piece of construction any of them ever encountered. They sat silent as they waited.

“He talked to me,” Morgan said, breaking the silence. She was sitting on Rhodey’s lap - he and Happy looked confused, Pepper looked lost. “In my dreams,” she added. “Just the last two nights…but he did. And FRIDAY knew too.”

“FRIDAY?” Pepper asked. “Honey, she’s been offline since…”

Morgan smiled. “She woke up first. Daddy asked me to press a button, so I…I snuck downstairs and I did. FRIDAY was happy and…”

Pepper shook her head. “Morgan, honey…” She was going to tell her daughter that none of that was possible, that she just experienced vivid dreams…but she stopped. Her husband sacrificed himself due to the mad ideas of a purple being from another world and she personally knew a god and a talking raccoon…how was it so hard to believe that Tony found his way to his daughter? “…why didn’t you tell me?”  
Morgan looked sad now. “Daddy said he was gonna try…and not to tell ‘case it didn’t work.” 

It made sense. If “it” didn’t work, with time, a child would be able to forget and treat it all like a fading dream. An adult would be cursed with an eternity of “what ifs.”

Pepper smiled at their child. “You did a very good job, sweetheart.”

The door opened and Helen walked into the room, a smile on her tired face. “I don’t understand it as well as I’d like,” she began, “but over the past few days, things changed. First he breathed on his own, then his cranial activity…” She massaged her temples. “I didn’t want to tell you before, but I never thought he’d truly…”

“Daddy,” Morgan whispered. She got off of Rhodey’s lap and rushed toward the door.

“Morgan, no!” Pepper shouted, getting up and going after her daughter. She wasn’t quick enough and the little girl entered her father’s room.

Soft light made the room almost welcoming. The walls were painted a shade of blue that made Morgan think of the sky just after a storm rolled away - a color she knew her father loved. Contrary to Pepper’s fear, Tony was not in the cradle, but a bed of the hospital variety, only a few monitors attached to him. The right side of his face showed faint scars and his right arm was hidden beneath bandages, but he was there. A monitor beeped along with his heart, his chest rose and fell…

Morgan approached his bedside with only hope in her heart; Pepper froze - for a slight instance - in fear. “Daddy,” Morgan said, in a soft, sure tone. She circled the bed and went to his left side, understanding even though she never saw him after that terrible snap. Not wanting to hurt him by climbing on the bed to kiss his cheek, Pepper watched as she took his hand with both of hers and kissed it. “Happy birthday, Daddy.”

Tears filled Pepper’s eyes. It was Tony’s birthday. The date that she’d been dreading for weeks…and she’d forgotten? No, no, she was sure she glanced at that calendar and cried only yesterday…and Morgan said it before they left, hadn’t she? Pepper couldn’t remember those frantic seconds.

“Morgoona…” It was soft and stressed, but it was Tony. Pepper ran to her husband’s side, his closest friends right behind her. She sobbed as his eyes opened and focused on his daughter. “I saw you.”

Morgan smiled. “I saw you too, Daddy. I did what you said.”

His next words were slow. “Yes…you did…Little Miss.” He looked to Pepper and tried his best to smile. “That’s enough…rest. I’m good.” His voice strengthened and he looked to Rhodey. “No more suits for me, and nobody else knows…save for The Kid.” He then reached up with his left arm and touched Pepper’s face. “Thank you, Pep. You didn’t…you didn’t let me go. I love you.”

“I love you, Tony. I didn’t know if it would work, I didn’t want to mess with…”

“Shh…stop, honey. I’m here, I’m staying until you get sick of me - then I’ll stay after that.”

“Your birthday kinda has a new meaning now, Tony,” Happy smiled.

Tears fell from Tony’s eyes. The void he’d been in floating in for weeks on end was gone. Something gave him yet another chance at living the only life he desired. He was through with fighting for good and done worrying about what so many others were there to take care of. He was truly able to rest now.


End file.
